Semiconductor stocks make gains

Micron Technology postpones quarterly results

By

JanetHaney

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Semiconductor stocks made positive gains Wednesday, encouraged by a lift in chip equipment stocks, while Intel unveiled a new processor and Micron Technology postponed its quarterly results.

Micron
MU, -3.49%
was expected to release its second-quarter results Wednesday, yet has shifted that date until the week of March 26. A telephone recording at Micron's investor relations department still says the company will release its quarterly results as previously scheduled.

Micron, a maker of memory components, said its quarterly numbers would come after Micron Electronics' quarterly figures are "available and have been consolidated." Meanwhile, Micron Electronics
MUEI
a majority owned subsidiary of Micron, will announce its second-quarter results on March 23.

Micron did say on Wednesday that net sales for its semiconductor operations reached $1.05 billion in the second quarter. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial expect the memory component maker to loss 1cent a share in the period. Ahead of the news, Micron shares added $1.41 to $42.01.

Wall Street analysts and top executives in the chip equipment industry turned toward the SEMInvest conference in New York City this week. The three-day event is sponsored by trade association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International.

Merrill Lynch analyst Brett Hodess said that day two of the conference focused on strategic positioning rather than near-term weak business trends. Gunnar Miller at Goldman Sachs commented in a research note that there isn't anything positive to report from SEMInvest.

Echoing that fact was Teradyne
TER, -2.63%
which said late Tuesday that it's laying off 650 employees, as well as issuing furloughs, delaying salary for all employees, and cutting salaries for senior managers. The supplier of test systems employs about 10,000. According to a company statement, Teradyne blames the current business environment, which has translated into customers ordering fewer products and services. Teradyne shares added 15 cents to $32.96.

Meanwhile, Intel unveiled a new Pentium III Xeon processor Wednesday that will be used to power high-end servers. Intel's
INTC, -1.79%
large cache PIII Xeon running at 900 megahertz, is designed for 4- and 8-way multiprocessing systems. Companies such as Compaq Computer, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hewlett Packard and IBM are expected to begin shipping platforms based on the new PIII Xeon in the first half of 2001, Intel said. See full story.

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